Marketing is one of the most complex aspects of any business and getting it right can be tricky. Direct marketing is one of a host of marketing tools that can be very effective if done well but this is often easier said than done. So here are some direct marketing tips to help you get your direct marketing campaign on track.

Tip 1 Decide who you are going to target and which media you are going to use

Knowing who your ideal customer is means you can target your campaign well. It is also extremely important to decide early on whether your campaign is going to be by direct mail, telephone, newspaper or magazine ad?

Tip 2 Always do a test campaign

Seasoned marketers advise that a test campaign is a must whether you are just starting out or have done a number of direct marketing campaigns before. This is one of the lesser known direct marketing tips. A test campaign helps you minimize risk but most importantly since you will be keeping records of what you do and the responses you receive it will provide valuable information about your customers allowing you to build a database and fine tune your campaign to generate high responses and get maximum conversions.

Tip 3 Develop benchmarks

Ascertain what the usual response and conversion rates are for the media you are going to use for your direct marketing campaign as they can range from 5% to 40 or 50%. This piece of research can help you make realistic projections and prepare yourself mentally and financially should you not get the amount of responses you wanted. The aim here is to minimize failure. Proper preparation means your campaign may be better than average and may beat the odds.

Tip 4 Be civil and polite

Whether your campaign is in writing or via telephone always be civil and polite to your potential customers. Being rude and offensive, mispronouncing names or spelling them wrong can alienate customers.

Tip 5 Make sure your customers know they are valued

If you're operating from a list of clients who have purchased products or services from you before little things like birthday or holiday greetings and special discounts go a long way to letting them know they a valued and can increase the likelihood that they would purchase from you again. They are also more likely to recommend your business to their friends or relatives who may be looking for similar products or services.

If you're operating with a brand new list or cold calling a free gift for responding or placing an order can make a difference between success and failure. This goodwill gesture need not be expensive but it can set you apart from your competitors, after all everyone loves receiving gifts and feeling valued.

This is one of the best direct marketing tips that you can incorporate into your campaign strategy and one that could increase response rates considerably and give you maximum conversions for your efforts.

You ought to make ultimate use of your time. Obviously you believe in "Time is Money", so you shouldn't waste your money. In other words, you won't like if your money is being wasted by others. Will you? So for this matter, you need to be more concentrated towards all important things you got to do. You should make the most of your time by working in a smart way. You should win your battles against whatever time you think you have already wasted. You've got to take risks, need to go against the rule and make something productive out of it.

Following are some simple tips to help you make your work more productive:

1. Avoid answering unnecessary calls during your work hours!

Set time limits. You should spot the people who waste your time with continuous messaging, web surfing, phone calls or chit-chatting. Stay away from them, and try to limit your interaction with them to as less as you can. The minutes you spend talking to them distracting yourself can let you lose your precious hours and thus, you end up losing productivity. Therefore, you should make it a point to end your conversations at proper time with polite replies. When you really need to get something done, make yourself unavailable. You should set a proper schedule in which following should be included:

No unnecessary e-mails.

No visitors.

It is all okay if you want to work with complete privacy.

No calls or texts.

2. Prioritize your tasks

Set your priorities right! What is more important? Prioritize your tasks based on return on investment. It's all your choice, make calendars for weeks or months if you like schedules, or you can even create a priority lists on daily basis, that will help you set your priorities right and achieve your deadlines on time. This will help you meet your goals, and will also help you to improve your concentration on things at your workplace helping you to become the upcoming star in your office.

3. Clear out the clutter

Yes, all of us know that this is such a boring thing to do. You will opt to die instead of cleaning your desk. I know it's one of the tedious works to do, but you need to be organized. Keeping your surroundings and desk clean will make your atmosphere livelier.This will also improve your status at your workplace as everyone will come to know how efficiently you work and why are you so successful. You need to get rid of things which are least important to you and keeping your desk clean will help you get things done much faster.

4. Make the most of your meetings

Make it a point to write agendas for meetings and attend the meeting only within the fixed time. There is a major productivity loss if you go late to the meetings and are not well prepared. Track all your appointments and reach before the beginning of the meetings. Make it a point to gain as much as you can in the group discussions and solve all your queries related to the targets.

5. Relax

Last but not the least, you ne-e-d to keep a few minutes aside from your daily schedule for yourself. Just close your eyes and relax in peace. Even a small session of meditation will help you ease your mind and body of stress.

Every business, whether online or offline, needs customer loyalty in order to be established for the line of work it is trying to be known for. All businesses work hard not just to get a good impression but to make a lasting one of reliability and value that makes them acquire the hard-earned customer loyalty. Especially with industries that are mainly service oriented, having customer loyalty is synonymous to bigger earnings and more opportunities to grow. There are different essential that can pave the road to customer loyalty for businesses.

Link up with other subscriptions If you are still new to the business, linking up with other more well-established websites related to what you are selling will help you get noticed. The loyal followers of what you are linking up to may also link up on you and conjoin thoughts of your website to be related to that which they faithfully subscribe to. If you manage to invest a certain amount to advertise your site and link up with as many businesses as you possibly can, you are definitely on your way to magnetizing customers and keeping them enamored of your offers.

Knowing what they need Of course, your target market has specific personal preferences. You will find yourself at a losing end if you do not incorporate those needs with your business. They will never bother to come back if they are not able to derive anything beneficial and worth their time. The needs of your target consumers are often researched by marketing companies. The information may come with a price, but it is a price worth investing upon if it means that it will make your business more attuned to the needs and wants of your target market.

Incentives and Rebates Also known as customer loyalty programs, you must also somehow give the illusion that you are giving back. In fact, you are actually giving back some for incentives and rebates. But this giving must not exceed your earning. The rebates and incentives must work to lure customer to buy more and stay longer to your services, and not make you lose all your income. A considerable amount of freebies which will perpetuate and somewhat make them dependent on your products is an effective way to get people to follow your products and give you more leverage to other things you might provide or sell in the future.

Be meaty and Not Fluffy Never commit the mortal sin of making empty promotions just so you could get their attention. Deception may at first get you the income you need, but you will not find much people clamoring for a second serving. Make sure that if you do give out customer rebates and incentives, it is going to be substantial enough and not a blatant way of trying to earn more income. Trust is valuable to every business. If you can work hard to establish customer trust, you are inevitably going to find them fiercely standing by you.

Make them a priority This is a no-brainer when it comes to generating customer loyalty. You must make customers feel that you are giving all of your attention to them and make it known to them that you are making efforts to keep them satisfied with your performance. Be as flexible as possible when it comes to making programs. Be as generous as you possibly can with your rebates, and you will find customer generously helping themselves with your services.

Accept criticisms No business is perfect. Never dismiss a disgruntled and dissatisfied customer no matter how hurtful it is sometimes to receive hate mail. Be as objective as you possibly can and do learn to accept constructive criticisms on the way your business is being handled. Chances are, if too many people are complaining about the same thing and it's making you lose customers frequently, it is something that needs to be addressed immediately.

Mario Churchill is a freelance author and has written many articles on various subjects. For more information on sales incentives or employee incentives checkout his websites.

The event features health,
wellness and beauty seminar and entertainment activities. The fourth run of Look and Feel Great Dance Competition
also takes centerstage. A new set of contestants are set to mesmerize and awe
the event attendees and judges.

Programme highlights the 1st
Philippine Health and Wellness Summit twin event of Look and Feel Great
Event which will be happening on the same venue. The first ever Philippine Health and Wellness Summit
will be discussing different health issues for free the following topics:
Weight Management by Dr. Edward Oliveros, Chief, Section of Bariatric (Weight
Reduction) Surgery, Institute of Surgery, St. Luke’s Medical Center Q.C, Laughter
Yoga by Mr. Paolo Trinidad, Founder Pinoy Laughter Yoga, Chiropractic For Neck
and Low Back pain by Dr. Benedicto Luz Adorable III, D.C, CEO & Founder,
Philippine Chiropractic Healthcare to name a few.

In addition, a free Strength-based Counseling for Personal,
Professional and Organizational Needs will be conducted by Ms. Candy DLC.
Mauricio, licensed counselor.

Also, enjoy and take part to the aerobic demonstrations by Fitness
First, Social Dance and Shine Dancing by Studio 116 Dance School, Pole Dancing
by Pole Cats Manila, Fashion Show by Hey Gurlz Band and Models.

“We intend to continue the health and wellness revolution that is
sweeping our nation in order to create a better country. At the same time, we
want to help in promoting health, wellness and beauty businesses because only
by allowing these businesses to grow can our intention be achieved”, said Mitch Ballesteros, Exlinkevents CEO.

Fabulous
giveaways will be given to buyers and visitors. More so, there is also an
on-going raffle of prizes to those who pre-registered online. Those who want to
join the contests should visit www.exlinkeventsblog.com
and click the LFG Visitor Registration tab.

Need to boost your work output and minimize the amount of time you spend head down in your papers? Every professional wants to improve their productivity, and while thousands invest in tools and strategies that have the potential to help them, few actually see any substantial gains from them.

These three tips are designed to work on the opposite principles of most productivity theories. They don't force you to adopt behavior that makes you uncomfortable, they encourage you to work to your strengths.

Invest in these tips and you'll see your productivity increase without the needless expense of your work comfort.

Sounds silly, doesn't it? Here I am giving you advice, and you're supposed to ignore it. However, it all makes sense.

When you're working, there are hundreds of distractions out there waiting to take away your time.

Allocate yourself time to work and ignore any external information or advice. In the digital age, we're surrounded by information, and the real key to personal productivity improvement is the ability to distance ourselves from that information.

Personal Productivity Guide #2: Create 'standards' for your day.

Need to work four hours per afternoon? Allot that time on your daily schedule, but don't stop there. Mark down when you're going to eat dinner, when you're going to brush your teeth, and the exact time that you're going to get out of bed.

By forcing yourself to stick to a rigorous schedule in other parts of your life, you'll find it much easier to focus on work in its allotted time slot.

Personal Productivity Guide #3: Audit your weekly output.

At the end of the day, ask yourself a simple question: "What have I achieved today?" Don't just stop with the question though, take stock of what you've achieved and write it down.

Keep a spreadsheet and make sure that your work output is constantly on the up-and-up. By monitoring your output, you can set simple targets for the coming days, weeks and months of work.

*Important Note* => We only have 24 hours a day. How do we achieve greater productivity? Here's how.

What you see here is just the tip of the iceberg. You are about to get more things done -- in less time -- as we reveal the secrets of power productivity strategies here...

One of the most essential goals of promotion is customer loyalty over time. This is because the expenditures of gaining new consumers far outbalance the costs of providing services for existing customers.

A consumer loyalty program is a means to retain customers, and should be used to heighten the communicating quality of a product or service. The customer loyalty programs benefit by customers for repeat transactions.

Loyalty schemes are also a useful tool to getting info about buying patterns and structured, and that their procedure is effective.

Repaying Loyal Customers

Keeping customers is a central goal for any business. Customers happy with the quality of product they get are prospect to keep buying from the same company.

Support the reputation and relationships with marketing programs that reward users for their loyalty. Schemes can take many forms: from discounts or incentives for multiple transactions, to more complex benefits that provide distinct stages of payoffs for consumers who persist in using the service.

Execute a Loyalty Scheme

If you want your customers to feel admired, make them members of a loyalty platform, and grant them treats that reward their loyalty.

Loyalty schemes meet distinguishable goals:

Customers make regular purchases and the business starts to keep their trade.

Products have customers that are in a measurable target age group and have the opportunity to sustain them for a lifetime.

Options to specialise a product or service through the promotion of 'services added advantages' that heighten the basic service or product.

Elevated opportunities to add value on standard aid services; member users pay an annual fee for a function and the company sustains them as members.

The brand has a chance to make scheduled offerings to particular consumer groups, with specialised interests.

Offer Real Benefits

You must be certain that the benefits offered by the incentive are useful by customer perception. At best, benefits should reflect the needs of the customer, they should also be given a class of exclusivity.

Discover Implications

Generating a loyalty program can represent a significant investment. The major areas of expense are:

Recruiting members

Launch of offers

Management

Dissemination of scheme costs

Employment working schedules

Organizational database

Communication Charges (E.g. a phone service)

Effectively Administer the Program

A loyalty scheme requires special administration to be sure that consumers receive the highest standards of service, so consulting in the necessary skills to administrate the platform is vital.

Employing competent resources is requisite to the success of the platform.

The primary activities to be prepared are:

Ascertain the benefits of the scheme

Determine the costs

Nominate a Production Administrator

Determine consumer preferences

Preparing a launch plan

Applying the necessary coaching to deliver outstanding service to the program members

Distributing a pitch to determine high levels of understanding about the scheme for customers

Defining the scheme to refine the understanding of users

Loyalty schemes can provide high levels of customer info, which can supply a reliable basis for potential direct marketing campaigns.

Note bearing: capture the user's basic data entry forms from the program to examine the buying patterns of consumers, and utilise that data to expand. Review the reception rates of the offers to club members.

Segment the customer base over durations, to develop planned actions.

Aldo Fanelli is a Marketing Researcher, with a passion for sharing information.

This info is in answer to a collection of queries, and has been collated from advice that has been sourced; with appreciation, the article is also written on behalf of brand loyalty experts, ICLP.

Find Shopinas.com in Booth # 89 near
the activity area ofLook and Feel Great Expo on June 30 and
July 1, 2012 at Megatrade Hall 2 SM Megamall -

A Health, Beauty and Wellness
Show Like No Other!

Shopinas.com is a one-of-a-kind online shopping website tailor-fit
for Filipinos here and across the globe. Connecting sellers and shoppers,
Shopinas.com provides a fun, convenient, and secure online marketplace where
anyone can buy and sell a gamut of wares: from shoes, bags, accessories,
personal care products for Beauty and Wellness to the latest gadgets.

Shopinas.com has the Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) Online
Trust Seal. Sellers and shoppers need not worry of fraudulent transactions or
scams since Shopinas.com had integrated solutions to protect the sellers and
shoppers alike.

Shopinas.com has a dedicated customer service and secured
web page http://www.shopinas.com
Please don't commit the mistake of typing two (2) P's kindly take note that our
site has only one (1) P.

Shoppers can pay via all major credit cards, Bancnet ATM
cards, Paypal, e-Gift Certificates. Shopinas.com guarantee to both merchants
and buyers a secure payment gateway, a reliable and efficient logistic
solutions within the ease of a user-friendly interface.

"The SHOPINAS edge lies in its shopper-friendly,
end-to-end solution and system that assures a level of trust and security -
giving sellers and shoppers complete control and freedom to acquire and dispose
what they want, where and when they want it fast!"- - Sheila Lina,
President & CEO - Air 21 Global

Christmas is not the only time for giving and receiving. I
am telling you all girls wants to be pampered all year-long.

Find that some products are main-stays on every girls mind.
Here are some gift suggestions you may want to add on your list, or give as a
gift.

An advocacy event that
aims to provide the public and
invited socio-civic groups as well as
students organizations ' summit on health and
wellness is being produced and organized by
Ex-link Events as part of its 11th year celebration
on June 30 - July 1, 2012 in Megatrade Hall, SM Megamall.

Free seminars on Diabetes, Hypertension, Dengue , Breast
Cancer as well as Reproductive Health will be
conducted by select expert doctors in the
fields. This is to spread awareness and
strengthen education campaign on the common
cause of illnesses among Filipinos. Lined
up also in the two-day free entrance summit
are topics on Natural Medicine as an alternative
way to be cured and prevention, Lecture on
branded medicine and Generics Medicines, Personality
Development, Laughter Yoga Session, Zumba demo
and session, Pole dancing demo and session
as well as Karate Demo and Sessions. Other
lectures and film showing on wellness, beauty
and health are also being added in the
programme of activities. Admission to the summit
is on a first come first serve basis
for seats and those who will register on
line will receive special giveaways upon entry to
the summit.

The Philippine Health and Wellness Summit
also comes with a twin expo entitled
" Look and Feel Great event "
where showcase of beauty, health and
wellness exhibitors, sponsors and supporters will
be presented to the public for free
entrance upon registration.

" Its high time for our fellow
Filipinos to gather together in the
Philippine Health and Wellness Summit to
learn more of the common health
concerns both prevention and cure.

Likewise, the expo on the Look and
Feel Great will provide them
options on products and services that will
help them on the beauty , health and
wellness aspects of their being, " said
Mitch Ballesteros, CEO, Ex-link Events

For inquiries on participation, attendance on the
summit and sponsorship call Ex-link Events : 6433887,
6407439, 6437760 or text 0920-9242532 or visit www.exlinkevents.com

Shopinas.com joinsLook and Feel Great Expo. Brainchild
of Air 21, Shopinas.com is a one of its kind shopping website mainly for
Filipino here and abroad. Attempting to put Philippines to be in the forefront
of the global e-commerce,shopinas.comis gaining its popularity in the online business. Connecting
sellers and shoppers, Shopinas.com provides a fun, convenient, and secure
online marketplace where anyone can buy and sell a range of wares: from shoes,
bags, accessories, personal care products to the latest gadgets.

In this era when beauty is regarded with high quality, aesthetic care gained a priority seat in the market. But how do you attain this? Here are the top beauty tips and secrets you might have just ignored before:

1. Moisturize your skin cells

When I say cells, this means not only your epidermis (the skin's outer layer). Most people would rigidly apply lotions and moisturizers to keep their skin from drying. Well, though it is a good practice, it is not as effective as keeping the skin all over the body moisturized. And that is only possible by drinking water. Taking in at least two liters of plain water will not only replace the lost minerals from your body, but will likewise improve circulation and revitalize your whole body.

2. Pay particular attention with your facial skin

The face is a prominent feature; a slight change in the facial feature can definitely drag attention. The facial skin, unlike the skin in other parts of our body has the most active sebum (natural oil of the skin) production. Likewise, it is the less protected part. In order to keep your facial skin healthy, avoid using soaps that are added with fragrances. Dermatologists would advice to cleanse your skin two times a day using low-pH soap.

3. Eat nutritious foods

Nutritious foods are those that are easily digested and are rich in phytochemicals that are good for the body. Too much has been said about eating fruits and vegetables, as one of the vital beauty tips and secrets. Even non-vegetarian gains beauty just by having a regular fruit intake at least two times a week. Antioxidants are the key elements that make you healthy and beautiful, it is important that you have an adequate reserve of these substances to fight off those free radicals that makes you ill.

4. Sleep for not less than 6 hours.

Ideally, you should sleep for 8 hours. But because of the metro lifestyle that requires you to subtract some sleep hours, six hours is enough. Just make sure that you it will not be less than that.

These are simple beauty tips and secrets that if religiously followed, will definitely improve your physical appearance.

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Do you often find yourself rushed for time when completing tasks? Do you find yourself taking work home in order to meet a deadline? How well do you deal with interruptions when you are in the middle of a task?

In today's world, success comes to those who have learned to manage their time well. You too can be a good time manager by following these 20 easy time management tips:

1. Create an activity schedule. It might be a good idea to create a schedule the previous night or the first thing in the morning. You can even use your diary to jot down the list of things to do. This way, you are more likely to be prepared for the day ahead and less likely to be caught unawares by something not on your agenda for the day.

2. Set mini goals for the day. Set a time limit for each of your tasks. For example, finish drafting letters by 9.30am, conclude staff meeting by noon, check and reply to emails by 1pm, and so on. This will not only prevent overstepping the time allotted for each task, but will also turn out to be an effective task management tool.

3. Minimize interruptions. While you cannot totally stop people from dropping by at your desk when you are busy, you can set up alternate times when you can make yourself available for them.

4. Eliminate distractions. Try not to keep any Instant Messaging software running when you are at work. Notifications of new emails arriving are another distraction that should be disabled. You can always return to your emails later when you have completed your tasks.

5. Do not give in to temptation. While we are all prone to checking our Facebook and Twitter accounts regularly, it might be a good idea to close or disable 'quick access' icons and toolbars of social networking websites when you are working.

6. Focus on the task at hand. Some important tasks require single-minded focus. You might be tempted to tackle several tasks together through multitasking, but that may not always be a good example of effective task management. It is better to focus on only one thing at a time, and get it done efficiently.

7. Get organized. Use an organizer that helps you arrange your to-do lists, appointments, notes, reminders and directory of contacts all in one place. This will help you take control not only of your work life, but also of your personal life.

8. Use a calendar to plan. Besides using an organizer, it is also a good idea to use any of the calendar software that also doubles up as an effective scheduler and planner. Worth a mention here is the Google Calendar, which many people sync with their mobile phones. This enables them to access their calendar anywhere at anytime.

9. Mark your deadlines. It is important to be aware of the deadlines of all your tasks. To enable you to remember, try and clearly highlight your deadlines on your calendar or organizer.

10. Aim to finish early. Another effective time management tip is to try and beat your own deadlines. If you aim to complete a task just before deadline time, then you are more likely to be late. So, set your targets in such a way that you finish every task well before its deadline. Similarly, try and be early for your appointments, rather than be on time.

11. Allocate time frames.Effective time management is all about allocating a specific time slot for each task. You will minimize the chances of overrunning the allotted time if you strictly adhere to these time slots.

12. Set an alarm for an earlier time. Set an alarm on your calendar or mobile phone to buzz 10-15 minutes prior to your time of appointment. This is a great way to give you enough time to be better prepared.

13. Place a clock in front of you. Time flies when we are busy and you may not be aware of the passing minutes and hours. It might be a good idea to have a large clock in front of you so that you can keep track of time.

14. Be aware of the time you are spending. Keep track of the time you are spending on a task by using a simple online countdown timer. Since this will help you check your progress every half hour or so, it will prove to be a very practical task management tool.

15. Know when to stop. Every task can be stretched longer than required. Similarly, meetings can go on and on. But you need to know when to put your foot down and set a cut-off time. Otherwise, you will end up using the time that you have allocated for other tasks.

16. Try not to be too exacting. Being a perfectionist might be good in some cases, but when it comes to getting a task done, try not to be too fussy about unimportant details.

17. Delegate. If you have peers and subordinates who can do the same task as well as you, then consider delegating. This will free up a lot of time for you to focus on more important work.

18. Bring order to chaos by prioritization. There are tasks that are important, and then there are those that can be attended to later, or dropped altogether. Among productivity tips, prioritization is one tip that is keenly followed by every successful person. Learn to prioritize your tasks.

19. Group similar tasks together. You can further streamline your work by grouping all similar tasks together. For example, reading letters, drafting replies to those letters and dictating them can be grouped together and completed in one time slot. Similarly, all the phone calls that need to be made can be done at the same time. This way, your thoughts are not all over the place during the day, and each group of tasks is completed at the same time.

20. A breather helps. In between tasks, allow yourself some time as a buffer. Don't rush from one task to the next throughout the day! Give a ten minute gap in between to give you enough time to bring a proper closure to the previous task and prepare yourself mentally to start the next. An excellent method to use is the Pomodoro Technique.

Chase R. Smith is a productivity and time management professional. For more tips & techniques to help you become more effective with managing your time and tasks visit Chase at http://www.chasingproductivity.com

While there has been much progress in the advancement of health, the number of cases of cancer, obesity and diseases have not fallen but are on the rise. Many of these ailments arose because of the unhealthy sedentary lifestyle that we live nowadays. There is much that we can do to improve our health and well being. For health and wellness living, here are 3 changes that you can make.

Health and Wellness Living: Have A Proper Diet

Most people do not put much thought into nutrition. They get most of their nutritional requirements from fast food burgers. Not only is this type of food high in calories, fat, and artificial content (which is bad for your body), they can also affect your mood. Eating refined starches and ultra-processed foods can drop you into daily depression. What is worse is that we try to combat this by getting "high" again with more sugars or caffeine. A proper diet is the foundation for a healthy lifestyle and is a great health and wellness tip.

Vitamins are a great way of filling in those gaps when you fall short of certain nutrients. Natural supplements are now easily available in several health stores. You should however be careful not to ingest too much of certain minerals, like iron, for example. Studies have shown an excess of iron to be dangerous, so talk to your doctor about specific supplement issues.

Health and Wellness Living: Exercise
You are so busy that you find it hard to find time to exercise. This is a common phenomena. You end up with aches and pains as well as stiff muscles. A steady regimen of exercise can leave you feeling even more energized. When you exercise daily, your body grows accustomed to it and acts accordingly. Your pain threshold is raised and endorphins are released in your brain, which means you will feel better, longer.

Health and Wellness Living: Manage Stress

It would appear that stress is a precursor to many diseases and illnesses. Yet, stress is part of our everyday lives. All of us have to learn how to deal with it.

If you find that you are stressed and having difficulties coping, seek help. You may wish to talk to your loved ones or family doctor about the problems that you are facing. Learning on how to cope with your anxieties and stress can prevent many illnesses from happening. Some believe that it is your mental health that can determine whether you have a poor or strong immune system.

In conclusion, it is important to live well and enjoy life. Taking preventive measures for health and wellness is worth the price of being diagnosed with a terminal illness or becoming bedridden for life. Adopt some health and wellness practices and see your overall wellness soar!

Evelyn Lim is keen on the subject of health and wellness. She owns a directory http://www.healthandwellnesscentral.com, an online archive of health articles of all topics including diseases and conditions, cancer, health insurance and natural health. Visit her site for more health research!

Whether you own a mom and pop corner shop or a worldwide software consultancy, customer loyalty is very valuable to you. Customer loyalty can be loosely defined as the predisposition of any given customer to purchase your goods or services over comparable ones available in the marketplace. When speaking of products (rather than services or the broader classification which includes both) it is often referred to as "brand loyalty." Investing time and energy in promoting customer loyalty should be an integral component of any business' marketing strategy. When business people think of "marketing" in general, they tend to focus on activities targeted at attracting new customers. While expanding your business' customer base is a crucial undertaking which you must work towards with clearly defined goals, the importance of retaining existing customers mustn't be overlooked. Working toward promoting customer loyalty (or brand loyalty) is critical to your goal for many reasons. A few of the most important reasons why customer loyalty is important to your business are outlined below.

Repeat Business

Loyal customers, almost by definition, will purchase your goods or services again and again over time. Depending on what type of business you have and what the sales cycle is like, you may end up selling more to one loyal customer in a year than you might to even 10 first time customers.

Greater Volume

As you build relationships with your loyal customers, it will become increasingly easy to sell to them in higher volumes. This may happen naturally, or you may choose to incentivize the process for your customers. In any case, higher volumes mean greater sales, which translates to higher overall profits.

Cross-selling Opportunities

Customers who exhibit brand loyalty have a relationship with your business. They trust you to provide quality products and customer service. This creates a great opportunity to fulfill more of your customers' needs than the traditional ones you currently meet. What does this mean? You can make sales to loyal customers across product lines and thus increase your overall sales volume without needing to focus so much on attracting new customers.

Protects You From the Competition

The more loyal your customers tend to be, the safer you will be from the draw of the competition. Establishing strong brand loyalty can make you practically immune to competitive forces. This is especially important in places where new players enter the marketplace often.

Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Loyal customers can also bring you new customers. Customers that have great relationships with businesses tend to talk about it. Happy and satisfied customers who keep coming back to you are very likely to refer others who may need your product and/or services.

Benefit of the Doubt

Let's face it; things go awry sometimes - even in the best businesses. Sometimes we get an order wrong, don't meet a deadline, or aren't able to deliver on promises made to customers. In today's economy, it's even easier for little hiccups such as these an others to take place in business. These types of mistakes can damage your business' reputation in the eyes of a new customer. A scheduling error can make your firm seem disorganized and unreliable. This is a very easy way to lose customers. The good news is, loyal customers are much more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt and/or overlook errors. If you maintain the level of customer service and quality that it takes to achieve brand loyalty in the first place, your customers will be willing to forgive you when bad things happen.